The headline reads “Another fight against graft” and I am wondering when the Thai Government had their first fight against graft.

Dictionary.com defines graft as:

the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one’s position or influence in politics, business, etc.

which I thought was the primary reason for anyone in Thailand to go and work for the Thai Government.

Corruption eradication may be the next quest on the government’s “national agenda”.

This is the same Thai Government agenda that promised computer tablets and higher wages – both are still in the wings.

This follows the government’s push to eradicate drug dealing, which has already been set into action.

I will give partial credit to the Thai Government for this item as there has been quite a few major drug busts – but – the Thai Government never seems to get MR. BIG.  On a positive note, there hasn’t been the mass slaughter that happened under Thaksin’s drug eradication plan.

“The idea of corruption eradication came after the prime minister received more and more information about government agencies demanding bribes. The agencies mentioned include the Customs Department, which has long been one of the agencies most cited for this issue,” a source close to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who asked not to be named, said.

As if Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra hasn’t seen this her entire life in Thailand.  The biggest offender in the Thai Government is always the Thai Police.

A survey reported at the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s first anti-graft strategic training course for mid-level administrators, said many state agencies were plagued with corruption. They include the Royal Thai Police headquarters, the Department of Land Transport, Bangkok‘s city administration, the departments of Revenue, Lands, Community Development, the Offices of the Election Commission, the Attorney-General, and the Court of Justice.

The NACC does a fair job, but their hands are tied in most of the cases involving Thai Government Politicians.   My wife has paid a few vehicle tickets directly to the Thai Policeman issuing the ticket.  We also had to pay an “expedite” fee or our land transaction would have sat in a pile for 6-12 months.

The only agencies I have dealt with that have been straight are the folks at Thai Immigration and the Thai Motor Vehicle Office.  If a Thai Policeman cannot get a driver’s license for his Filipno wife without her having to take the written and driving test, you know the office is straight.

The only time I had to give a “tip” at Thai Immigration was when I wanted to get my yellow house book to verify my address.  The issuing office told me to go to Thai Immigration to get the letter.   Captain Rungrat told me the office didn’t do those letters, but for a “tip” she would take care of it.  Five hundred baht later, I had my letter.

Meanwhile, complaints about government officials filed with the NACC have continued to pour in. As many as 81,200 complaints have been submitted since the anti-graft office was set up.

My guess is that this Thai Government is completely understaffed and overwhelmed.

The top five problems include violations of laws or regulations, corruption in procurement, embezzlement of budget for government projects, stealing government agency property and officials demanding bribes.

There you have it – Thai Government at all levels in action.

“The strategies’ objective is that the PM wants to move forward the corruption eradication seriously. She also wants issues that people complain about to be taken care of. The process must be transparent -people should be able to examine and give information. More importantly, heads of government agencies must think and prepare how to design systems to prevent officials from asking for money,” the source said, noting that this was what the premier told heads of state agencies.

If, and it is a BIG IF, PM Yingluck is serious, the first thing to do is quadruple the staff at NACC.  Procurement should be online and visible to oversight agencies.  She also has to get people to stop paying bribes along with getting Thai Government officials to stop receiving them.

It is just too easy right now to drive without a driver’s license or without a helmet when riding a motorcycle.  The fine is all of 100 baht and you are on your way.  Tell the people in Thailand that if caught bribing a Thai Police Officer, the first offense is one year in jail and it might just have an impact.

The prime minister had met with leaders of state agencies and called for ideas – “brainstorming”. She also ordered them to figure out how to prevent officials making illegal requests for money and to “clean up” their agencies, then to put the measures in the “internal anti-corruption plan”.

Catch a few Thai Government Officials in the act, shouldn’t be hard to do, and toss them in jail for 20-50 years.

The Office of the Public Sector Development Commission was assigned to collect the plans and keep them as a key performance index that every organisation has to implement each year.

And, I am sure that each and every office will report how wonderful they are.

Thus, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved the “Anti-corruption Strategies for the Public Sector”. And a “kick-off” event to announce the policy will be held at the Government Complex tomorrow.

Yep, form committees, schedule meetings, photo-op and lots of predictions, and then the same old shit.

To make sure that this policy is acted upon, the government will set up an anti-corruption “war room” at the Justice Ministry. Justice Minister Police General Pracha Promnok will be the chairman, while the secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission will be secretary of the war room.

Oh, goodie, another war room.  Hope it doesn’t sink like the flood war room did.

Information will be linked to the PM’s Operation Centre so that the premier can closely follow up on issues or details.

So the PM’s brother, Thaksin, can tell PM Yingluck what to do – who to shitcan – and who to overlook.

And a hotline – 1206 – has been set up to receive complaints about corruption in the public sector.

I wonder if they have anyone that speaks English.

In October, the best and worst government agencies will be announced, as per votes by the public. The National Statistics Office and academic institutions’ polling units will be part of this.

This will be another farce.  Anytime the Thai Government uses numbers, don’t believe them.

Punishment for “cheaters” will be announced then, too.

We all know what this means.  Moved to an inactive post.

PM’s Office Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, in charge of events on anti-corruption for public sector, said the “kick-off” tomorrow will be a declaration of the government’s intent to get rid of corruption in the public sector.

My grandmother taught me that the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

The minister said he believed that once corruption is reduced, problems in the government sector would decrease. Although this could not be put in percentage terms, success could be achieved if all agencies join hands.

Reduced?  What happened to eradicated?  Most likely, a few will get caught with their hands in the cookie jar, get a slap on the wrist, the Thai Government will declare this campaign a resounding success, and then it will be back to business as usual.

Once it kicks off tomorrow, it will be a matter of implementation.

This is going to be difficult for Thai Government Officials as it requires ethics.

But no matter how good the plans or strategies are, without cooperation from government agencies and civic network, this goal cannot be achieved.

Difficult to change an entire country’s way of thinking and doing business overnight.

What makes it so hard is the fact that corruption has been rooted in Thai society for a long time.

It will take people a long time to get used changing current ways.

It is a way of life in Thailand from the lowest laborer to the highest Thai Government Official.

Assumption University’s Abac Poll did a survey from January 15 to 28 this year and found that 64 per cent of respondents said they could accept corruption if they benefited from it. Only 36 per cent disagreed.

I understand this.  What would you rather do if you got a speeding ticket?  Pay off the cop 100 baht or take a day off from work to go to court?

But eradication of corruption in the public sector was deemed important. And no government has ignored this or failed to implement policies against it.

But, no Thai Government has actually done anything about it.  Having a policy is one thing, throwing people in jail is another.  I believe that this is a show from the Thai Government to try to get off of some of the International shit lists – money laundering, intellectual property, etc.

But clearly, we have seen little progress from any government.

That should read – no progress – or, it has gotten worse as the years go by.

It will be interesting to see if this Thai Government actually does anything or if this is just more smoke and mirrors.

Ever since the coordinated bomb blasts in these three “restive” provinces in March 2012, and a separate, but related, car bombing in Songkhla, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been hot to promote these dangerous areas.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Car Bomb Yala

The Tourism Authority of Thailand won’t admit it, but tourism has dropped drastically in the South, and for very good reasons.  Who the hell wants to visit an area and risk getting blown up?

The Bangkok Post article, Campaign entices tourists to restive  border provinces, shows the Tourism Authority of Thailand is promoting Danger Tourism.

In a bid to increase tourist numbers in the South, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is introducing a campaign to attract visitors to the restive region.

I wonder what the Tourism Authority of Thailand will call this campaign.  Miracle Danger Thailand?  Dangerous Amazing Thailand?  Miracle Insurgent Thailand?  Amazing Restive Southern Thailand?

I also wonder if they will promote tours to Thai Government massacre sites – Krue Se and Tak Bae?

The promotion will cover Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces and the Malaysian states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

The three most dangerous provinces in all of Thailand where over 5,000 have been killed by terrorists insurgents in the last 8 years.

The TAT, in partnership with the Southern Border Province Administration Center and the private sector, will offer Islamic culture package tours to these places. It hopes to increase the number of tourists coming to the area by 5-10% to 1.5 million this year.

I wonder if that includes tours of bomb making factories, Improvised Explosive Device detonations, and visits to terrorist insurgent camps.

Following recent terrorist attacks, particularly the March 31 bombings in Yala and Songkhla that killed more than a dozen people, tourism in the region has been in a slump.

Have no fear, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is here!  TAT will announce that millions of tourists will spend billions of baht whether they actually show up or not.  Remember, it is all about the numbers and face.

In 2002, tourism revenue in the three southernmost provinces totalled 4 billion baht, but last year it fell to 3.3 billion baht.

A full two years before the terrorist insurgent attacks began.

“Most Thai tourists are now afraid of visiting these three provinces due to terrorism. However, Malaysian tourists continue travelling to there, particularly through three key borders _ Betong, Tak Bai and Sungai Kolok,” said Wan Abdullah Wan Mat, the managing director of Yaskin Travel & Tour (Thailand) Co.

The Malaysian people I spoke to on my recent trip to Krabi told me that under no circumstance would they travel to the Yala, Pattani or Narathiwat.  They preferred to go a little further north to Koh Samui or Krabi.

“To attract Thai tourists, we have to add the two destinations in Malaysia to the package tours. It would be difficult to sell our package tours if we only introduced the three Thai border provinces.”

So, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will promote Three Dangerous Provinces and toss in a couple places in Malaysia to boot.  Sounds safe to me.

“We hope Thai Muslims in places such as Songkhla, Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Chachoengsao will visit those provinces to lend them moral support and help to upgrade the lives of people there,” said Ahman Mad-Adam, director of the TAT’s Narathiwat office.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand would like people to risk their lives going to a known dangerous area to provide moral support.

The TAT will hold the second Southern Border Tourism Expo from June 1-3 at Ratchamangkala Stadium in Bangkok.

Why doesn’t the Tourism Authority of Thailand hold the expo in Yala, Pattani, or Narathiwat to show moral support?

Package tours being offered at the expo will start at 3,500 baht a person for a three-day, two-night trip originating in Hat Yai and taking visitors to the three border provinces.

Sounds like you get to sit in a van all day and then go to sleep and hope that your van doesn’t get hit with an RPG or run over an IED.

If you want to really know more about these three southern Thai Provinces and why there are almost daily bombings, shootings, and beheadings, read this article from Time Magazine – Thailand: Why Conflict Persists in the Deep South.

Maybe the Tourism Authority of Thailand should partner up with the Thai Military and promote one-year enlistment tour packages with a guaranteed assignment in Yala, Pattani, or Narathiwat.

The reason for my laughter is that this sub-domain, not new web site, was “launched” by the Tourism Authority of Thailand in February 2012, and without my assistance would still be broken.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Adventure Travel

The “new site” from the Tourism Authority of Thailand is located at adventure.tourismthailand.org or, if you speak English, http://adventure.tourismthailand.org/eng.php.

Here is the article from the Nation, TAT launches adventure website (May 16, 2012):

Adventure travel enthusiasts seeking to try their hand at 100 Unforgettable Experiences in Thailand can log onto a new website, adventure.tourismthailand.org, and take their pick.

English speaking newspaper and they post the link (not clickable) to the Thai language site.  See above for the English site or click on the flag.

Visitors have become more discerning and seek more experiences, especially those that bring them more into contact with nature, and Thailand is a dream destination with a range of national parks bursting with flora and fauna.

This is true – but how does the Tourism Authority of Thailand market this?  They set up a web site and then announce it 3 months later.

“Adventure travel has become very popular in recent years and is likely to grow in the years ahead, for both domestic and foreign visitors. We are very proud of the many adventure travel opportunities in Thailand and have designed the entire package of information to help visitors make us their first-choice destination,” Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said yesterday.

Only if the visitors can find the information.  Where is the social media campaign?  Where is this on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube?

“There is no doubt that it will help meet our strategic policy objective to boost our average length of stay, more evenly distribute tourism earnings around the country and make Thailand an all-year destination. Most importantly, it will help us strengthen Thailand’s brand image as a quality, value for money destination.” Suraphon said.

If this were true, where is the big write-up about the recent rock climbing festival at Railay Beach in Krabi?  I believe it is called Fire and Ice on the Rocks.  I was at Ao Nang Krabi during this event and didn’t see anyone heading to Railay Beach with rock-climbing gear.

TAT has produced 2,000 copies of the same information in print format in Thai and 1,125 copies in English.

And, the Tourism Authority of Thailand claims to be a high-tech organization, yet they continue to publish paperback books that are only available at their main office in Bangkok.

Getting back to the site being broken, here is a copy of the email reply to my contacting the Tourism Authority of Thailand telling them that many of their web site pages were dead:

From: Jirapon Duangkam

OK Thanks. I’ll try to solve this problem ASAP.

From: 100 Adventure Contact Form [mailto:design@travelanium.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 12:49 PM
To: design@travelanium.com
Subject: Customer Contact Information

Dear Customer Service,
This is an inquiry form from http://adventure.tourismthailand.org/eng/contact.php

Name: larry
E-Mail: my email address
Telephone number:
Country:
Message from customer:
At the “Other” section, the following pages don’t work. They only go to a “Contact” page. 80 81 82 83 85 86 88 89 90 92 93 94 95 99 100 http://adventure.tourismthailand.org/eng/other.php

Fifteen out of one hundred pages not working (English version) – so 85% functional.  And, note the date – 23 February 2012.

It took about three weeks for this company, most likely contracted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, to fix the dead pages.

Yesiree, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is high tech, makes current press releases, and has the answers to all things tourism in Thailand.  Not!

I am still waiting for the Thank You card from the Tourism Authority of Thailand for providing assistance in the launch of their “new” website.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand news site looks totally unprofessional, provides inaccurate, incorrect, and flat out wrong information, and violates Thai Intellectual Property law.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Drunken Monkey

Yes, the Tourism Authority of Thailand news site looks like it was slapped together by a drunken monkey.  The news is not news, only glorified pats on the back of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Traveler’s Tips are about 50% correct.

One in particular, entitled Renting a Jet Ski, gives decent safety information but completely overlooks the MAJOR scam problems with jet-ski operators, primarily in Phuket.  Telling tourists to ensure that the jet-ski be licensed and insured is great, but how many will know what to actually look for.  The Thai jet-ski operator could just flash a piece of paper with Thai writing on it and a foreigner would be none the wiser.

There is also no warning that he Thai Police are in cahoots with the jet-ski scammers and often help negotiate a settlement, and get a piece of the pie.  The advice from the Tourism Authority of Thailand is to call the tourist police if assistance is needed.

If in doubt or you need assistance, please call the Tourist Police Hotline on 1155. For emergencies, call 1669.

The only problem is that the police are as bad as the jet ski scam artists.

Oh, the photo of the guy jet skiing is from Alexandra Springou Apartments, Corfu (Kerkyra), Greece.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has another page for traveler’s tips – Safety & Well-being – and it has some decent information, but most is heavily sugar coated.  No mention of the high number of handgun murders in Thailand, no mention of the road death carnage at New Years and Songkran, no mention of the unsafe vans, buses, taxis, and tuk-tuks, and no mention of the taxi mafia.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) receives over a thousand complaints each year from visitors who have been cheated on gem purchases.

And, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the Thai Police do absolutely nothing about the gem scams or any other scams that occur in Thailand.

A traveller who has fallen victim to a gem or other scam should contact the local branch of the Tourist Police, or call their country-wide toll-free number: 1155.

I guess the Tourism Authority of Thailand is tired of hearing the complaints.

And, as usual, the Tourism Authority of Thailand posts this on the bottom of their web site:

Copyright Tourism Authority of Thailand. All Rights Reserved

The Thai Government, according to Thai law, cannot copyright announcements – and there is very little that can be copyrighted by a Thai Government Agency.  They mark their content with a copyright notice and steal other people’s photos.

Here are the Terms of Use for tatnews:

Terms of Use::The Tourism Authority of Thailand expressly authorises the reproduction, publishing, distribution, and communicating to the public (e.g. by making available online or electronically transmitting) any of the editorial content (or any readily identifiable portion of the editorial content) or photographs on www.tatnews.org solely for the purpose of promoting Thailand as a visitor destination. Original photographers should be credited with any use of their work.

The information on this website is presented in good faith and on the basis that the Tourism Authority of Thailand, nor their agents or employees, are liable (whether by reason of error, omission, negligence, lack of care or otherwise) to any person for any damage or loss whatsoever which has occurred or may occur in relation to that person taking or not taking (as the case may be) action in respect of any statement, information or advice given in this website.”

This is my favorite line – “Original photographers should be credited with any use of their work.” – The Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t list the names of the photographers, and steals the jet ski photo.

And, then, the Tourism Authority of Thailand adds the lengthy disclaimer that they are not responsible to anyone for anything.

So, if you want Thailand tourism news, make sure that you DO NOT visit the Tourism Authority of Thailand tatnew.org site unless you enjoy wasting your time.

The original plan was to hunt for 20 days but it got cut short one day as I stubbed my toe at the Ao Nang Gran Inn in Krabi Thailand and the swelling prevented me from hunting on my last day in Krabi.

Ao Phai Plong Krabi Thailand

The original plan only had me hunting Ao Nang with a possibility of riding a long tail boat to West Railay beach in Krabi.  But, like most things in Thailand, the best plan is no plan.

With the help of guy whose wife lost her wedding band on West Railay, I got to spend two nights there and 2 days hunting West Railay Beach.

I also hiked about 30 minutes and hunted a very big beach – Ao Napporat Thara.

And. lastly, I did some real hiking and hunted Ao Phai Plong.

So, this was an almost perfect location to hunt for an extended period of time.

Lots of relatively clean beaches, very few tourists on the beach, no beach vendors, no jet skis, no beach umbrellas or beach chairs – almost perfect.

I have hunted the beaches of Jomtien, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samet, Cha-am, and Hua Hin and all of them were loaded with trash and all of them have beach umbrellas with beach chairs, and vendors all over the place selling crap on the beach.  The end result, tons and tons of trash.

The beaches in Krabi all had some trash, as it would be almost an impossibility to find a trash-free beach anywhere in the world.  But, when I hunt a beach in Thailand for 3-4 hours and only find a handful of pull tabs and other miscellaneous rubbish, the beach is clean to me.  At the other beaches I have hunted, I could have filled a shopping bag daily with trash from the beach.

It was nice too that I found a variety of coins from foreign countries and nineteen rings.  I also found a very nice necklace.  This was despite having seen three other local Thai metal detectorists that provided some competition for me.  I guess they didn’t find it all.

I will definitely come back to Krabi and next time will work in some of the other islands in the area – Koh Jum, Koh Lanta, and Koh Phi Phi.  Maybe spend a night or two on each island and hunt like crazy.

All in all, a very good trip to a very quiet location. Krabi during low season (I went right after Songkran) was great.  Prices are a little high but expected at a resort area.

Here is a video of my final tally for Krabi Thailand:

There you have it – Krabi Thailand – a great place to go metal detecting.